Guest contribution by Eric Worrall
h / t Dr. Willie Soon; EE News reports that heresy against IPCC recognized scientific positions is not only popular, but also makes big money for the heretics.
The climate denial newspaper is thriving on Facebook
from Scott Waldmann | 8/27/2021 5:32 am EST
One of the most visited pages on Facebook in the past few months is a subscription page for a conservative media company that publishes climate denial.
The Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper that reiterates anti-vaccine messages and promoted former President Trump’s false election claims, received 44.2 million views between April and June for a site that offers to subscribe, according to a report which was last published by Facebook week.
That was a total of 10.
It’s a notable feat for a media company that was banned from advertising on Facebook for hiding its association with ads supporting Trump’s candidacy. It also begs the question of how a channel spreading climate misinformation could reach millions of people through a social media platform that spoke out against spreading false claims about science.
The Epoch Times, founded by members of the Chinese spiritual group Falun Gong, turned heavily on conservative politics during the Trump administration. And although the newspaper previously had objective climate coverage, it has become one of the major media sources for climate denial.
That was profitable for the newspaper as revenues more than quadrupled during Trump’s presidency, public records show.
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A recent article titled “Study Finds Sun – Not CO2 – May Be Behind Global Warming” focused on a study by a researcher associated with the fossil fuel industry whose work has been debunked by climate scientists. The paper also published articles on the dangers that renewable energy poses to the power grid.
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The inclusion of a subscription page for The Epoch Times in the most-visited links section shows that “Facebook does not have any kind of governance that is even aligned with its own policies,” said Grygiel.
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The Epoch Times has flourished financially since switching to far-right politics, as public tax records show. The Epoch Times Association reported sales of $ 15.5 million in 2019, $ 12.5 million in 2018, $ 8.1 million in 2017, and $ 3.9 million a year 2016, as shown by public tax documents. The newspaper claims to publish in 22 languages in 36 countries.
The Facebook report suggests that the social media giant helped fuel that surge.
The Epoch Times Facebook page has millions of followers and is adding thousands of people every week. Its growth is due to the point of sale being sanctioned for fraudulent pro-Trump ads.
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Read more: https://www.eenews.net/articles/climate-denial-newspaper-flourishes-on-facebook/
The study complained about by EE News contains Dr. Willie Soon as one of its writers.
Facebook tried half a thing against the Epoch Times, banning the Epoch Times advertising in 2019, but the Epoch Times thrived anyway.
Facebook may want to remove the Epoch Times entirely from its platform for the crime of freedom of expression over climate change and international politics. But what happens to the bulk of your audience that mostly uses Facebook to follow the Epoch Times?
However, if Facebook doesn’t do anything, Facebook’s own supporters could boycott them. Thanks to Zuckerberg’s obvious foray into social engineering, Facebook complainers now expect Facebook to take an editorial position on views they don’t like – and will be bitterly disappointed if their demands are not met.
Keep winding Facebook. You made this mess. If you had stayed true to your stated goal of promoting free expression, the whiners might still have complained, but most people would have respected your absolute commitment to freedom of expression. Now your credibility as a free speech platform is in ruins, there is no easy way forward. Whichever option you choose, you lose – and rightly so.
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